Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Things found: Around the World with Louise Brooks

This past weekend I experienced project creep. While working on the Pandora's Box chapter in  Around the World with Louise Brooks, I ventured off on a few internet side-trips, one to Cuba, one to the Dominican Republic, and the other to The Free City of Danzig. Happily, I came away with my first ever records of the showing of Brooks' films in both Danzig and the Dominican Republic. Hooray! I now have documentary records (newspaper advertisements and newspaper listings) for Brooks films having been shown in nearly 65 sovereign states and non-sovereign territories.

I also came across some rather unusual clippings which don't go into my new book, but which I wanted to share. Because they are so damned cool. Like this montage from Carteles, a general interest magazine from Cuba which often ran pieces about American movie stars including Brooks. Can you identify each of the movie stars in the piece below?


And then there is this page of movie advertisements from the Danziger Volksstimme, a German-language newspaper from The Free City of Danzig. At the bottom of the page is an ad for Wings, the acclaimed WWI film which won the first Best Film at the first Academy Awards ceremony.
In case you don't know, The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 towns and villages in the surrounding areas. It was created in 1920 in accordance with the terms of Article 100 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. The Free City included the city of Danzig and other nearby towns, villages, and settlements that were primarily inhabited by Germans. As the Treaty stated, the region was to remain separated from post-World War I Germany (the Weimar Republic) and from the newly independent nation of the Second Polish Republic, but it was not an independent state. The Free City was under League of Nations protection and put into a binding customs union with Poland. One of the most famous people born in Danzig was the German novelist Gunter Grass, who's great novel The Tin Drum, is set in the Free City. (The Tin Drum was also made into a great film.)

Here are a couple of more pages of movie advertisements from the same German newspaper. How many films or movies might you be able to pick out of the bunch? Bonus points for those who can spot the Louise Brooks' films lurking in the jumble.

Monday, April 22, 2019

A Louise Brooks spin on Kevin Brownlow Thinking a Treasure Trove of ‘Lost’ Silent Films Is Collecting Dust in Cuba

A few days ago, IndieWire ran a must-read interview piece on Kevin Brownlow, the renowned film historian and Oscar honoree. The piece is titled "Kevin Brownlow Thinks a Treasure Trove of ‘Lost’ Silent Films Is Collecting Dust in Cuba." Before you read any further, and if you haven't already done so, go back and read that article, which can be found HERE.

The piece notes, "Brownlow isn’t content to just be honored for his own past work — he wants the work to continue, freely offering up advice about how future milestones in film preservation might be achieved. And where 'lost' silent masterpieces might yet be found. . . . 'I remember a Cuban refugee meeting me in London and saying all the films you’re looking for are in the Cuban archive,' Brownlow said, referring to Havana’s Cinemateca de Cuba, which is in possession of some 80,000 reels of historic films, including early American silent films."

American silent films were especially popular in Cuba — as much as any Latin American country, and more than most all Caribbean countries. That popularity may be explained by Cuba's proximity to the United States, as well as a shared culture and history. Louise Brooks herself visited Cuba in 1928.

My forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, contains a number of Cuban advertisements and articles related to Louise Brooks. Here are just a few which evidence Brooks' popularity on the Spanish-speaking island nation.


“The Princess of the Cinema: Luisa Brooks” appeared in the November, 1928 issue of Carteles, a general interest magazine from Havana, Cuba. This marked one of a number of appearances by Brooks in this and other Cuban magazines.


Take a look at this page from a 1927 Cuban newspaper. Along with a big piece on La Venus Americana (the lost 1926 Brooks' film, The American Venus), there are also pieces on a Betty Compson film and King Vidor's The Big Parade. American films were a big draw in Cuba. And so were European films like Pandora's Box.


In the IndieWire piece, Kevin Brownlow makes the point that films made in one country were often given different titles when shown in other countries, especially those nations where a different language was used. This rare advertisement for the "sensational" German film Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box) shows that it was given an alternative title, Lulu la Pecadora, which translates as Lulu the Sinner!

Hopefully, if Trump doesn't further handicap our relations with Cuba (he's already hit a foul ball over baseball), American film scholars might be able to visit Havana’s Cinemateca de Cuba and perhaps find one of Brooks' lost American silents. I, for one, would be happy to see La Venus Americana (The American Venus), Un Figaro de Sociedad (A Social Celebrity), or Medias Enrolladas (Rolled Stockings).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

1920's Louise Brooks Cuban Tobacco Card


For sale on eBay, a 1920's tobacco card from Cuba depicting Louise Brooks (identified as "Louise Brook"). Spanish language text on the reverse identifies this card as number 716 in the "Serie Artistica."

Tobacco cards, sometimes also referred to as cigarette cards (or candy cards), were small promotional items packaged along with items like cigarettes or candy.

The image on the card was taken by M.I. Boris. The actress looks especially lovely in this portrait. She was probably no older than 18 or 19 at the time.

Interestingly, Louise Brooks had something of a presence in Cuba. I have managed to look through a few Cuban magazines and newspapers from the 1920s and have run across her image a number of times. Paramount did a good job promoting the actress on the island.

I also own a vintage box of stick matches which features Brooks' image. I've bid on this item. Let's hope I win. Then, at last, the match box will be "reunited" with the cigarette card. (Who knows, maybe the matches once lit a smoke from a package which contained just such a card....)
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